That Old Black Magic
by omens
Summary: There’s more to magic than they’ll ever know.
1. Chapter 1

**Name:** Chris

**Title:** that old black magic

**Fandom:** Wizards of Waverly Place

**Genre:** General

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** There's more to magic than they'll ever know. [Justin/Alex] Post movie.

_**This one's going to be a bit on the short side, three or four chapters tops. It started as a one shot but if I kept it that way, it'd be massive. This is easier.**_

……

_all I need is a holiday, from my vocation as a saint  
hearts are beating fast; we're the same (in every way)  
saints - city drive_

……

Justin learns, when he is young, that the link between magic and religion is an invisible bond that no one ever sees, yet it's presence cannot ever be discounted.

Witchcraft, witch trials. Catholicism, heresy, Inquisition, excommunication. Druids. Voodoo. All ancient and powerful and tangible in that way that love, life, is tangible, touchable, untouchable.

Prayers and worship, all in their own way.

He studies Salem when he's 9, asks his dad about being burned at the stake and if being a wizard is the same thing as being a witch. No, he's told. Being a wizard, having powers, is something he was born with. Witchcraft is a practice, a belief, and choosing so is not the same thing.

But, as Justin finds out, that's not exactly true at all.

……

Alex almost causes them to miss their plane home from the Caribbean. Naturally. A little old lady has a cart set up outside the hotel selling cheap jewelry and candles and what look like voodoo dolls, and she lures her in with her wide smile and promises of good deals.

Justin rolls his eyes, pulling his sister away from the table. The last thing he needs is Alex getting it in her head to make a doll of him. She's inflicts enough on him as it is. She jerks her elbow back out of his grasp and runs beads and chains through her fingers, a look of wonder on her face that he recognizes from anytime she sets foot in the mall back home, and demands he gives her ten dollars for a cheap looking silver charm on a thread thin chain.

He does. Of course. It's easier than the fallout from refusing.

And it's easier to convince himself, when she pushes her hair to one side, that the clasp of the chain isn't hot.

……

"Alex!"

It starts, as so many things do, with a yell.

She whirls, her conversation with Harper that he's been pulled into by force stopping abruptly.

Abigail Archer has never particularly liked Alex, and vice versa. The two of them have clashed since the first time they laid eyes on each other in fifth grade. But unlike Gigi, she's gone out of her way to avoid his sister ever since.

Until now.

"What," Abigail demands, "is that?" Justin follows the line of her finger directly to the necklace Alex is wearing, the necklace she (he) bought on vacation.

Rolling her eyes, Alex turns back to Harper, ignoring Abigail and the dark scowl twisting her pretty face.

Justin sucks in a breath when Abigail puts a hand on Alex's shoulder and pushes at her. "Excuse me, I was talking to you."

He can see the fury ignite in his sister's eyes and he steps between the girls to keep the situation from escalating. They've already drawn a little attention from the people standing close by. If a crowd forms, then teachers will get involved.

"Listen, Abigail," he says slowly. "You and I both know Alex isn't the most polite person on the planet-"

"I'm standing right here," his sister protests, shoving at him.

He ignores her, keeping his attention on the other girl. She seems to be even more upset than Alex is, so she's the priority for the moment. "What's wrong?"

Still scowling, Abigail looks at Alex beyond her brother's elbow. "Where did you get that charm?"

She picks at the charm around her neck. "This? I got it while I was on vacation." She cocks her hip out and crosses her arms over her chest. "What do you care?"

"Do you have any idea what that symbol even means?"

At this he, Alex, and even Harper snort. Alex knowing what something means is, well, its snort worthy.

"All I know is cost ten bucks and it goes with everything," Alex states flatly. "What else is there?"

Sputtering in indignation on Abigail's part turns into slack jawed disbelief. "You didn't even _ask_?"

"Ask what?" Alex demands. "When this conversation is going to be over?"

Abigail turns to Justin, a more resigned and calm look on her face. She takes a deep breath, and begins speaking slowly. "Justin, unlike your sister, I know you are a thoughtful, respectful person, and you understand the meaning of tradition."

He nods. Behind him, Alex snorts.

"That symbol," she says with all the venom of a king cobra, "is an ancient voodoo veve. Wearing it when you have no idea of its significance is just plain insulting."

"How do you know I don't practice voodoo?" Alex shoots at her.

Abigail scoffs. "You're Catholic, Alex. My family knows yours, remember?"

Justin can all but feel the dirty look Alex must be giving her. He doesn't even need to turn around and see for himself. He steps away from his sister and Harper, guiding Abigail along with him. "Listen, Abigail, you and I both know my sister and she didn't mean any disrespect. She just…has no control when it comes to shopping."

Fishing a small leather bound book out of her overly large, overly fashionable bag and hands it to him. "Do your sister a favor and try to teach her something. Something beyond questionable fashion choices."

With a final look of disdain, Abigail stalks off, the heels of her shoes clacking angrily in her wake. Justin has to throw an arm out to keep Alex from going after her.

He eyes the book in his hand and sighs. His work is never done.

……

Later that day Justin understands why Abigail was so upset. He's spent the last few hours reading the book she gave him, all about the traditions and practices of voodoo and he realizes that, without meaning to, Alex had made a major mistake.

Typical.

When she walks into the lair, Justin fights against rolling his eyes at seeing the silver charm still laying flat against her collarbone. He can see, sort of, why she liked it. It looks good on her, suits her, and fits in with all the other ostentatious and unusual things she wears.

Alex hadn't meant any harm, unlike so many other times in her life when situations like this have popped up. Then he thinks about the bad taste that rose in his mouth when he saw Brian Grayson, who's parents were stout and vocal Atheists, wearing a rosary to school one day. He dressed entirely Goth back then, and he probably just looked at the beads and cross as just some piece of jewelry that complemented his outfit.

It didn't feel that way to Justin. To him, it felt like a slap in the face against everything he's been raised to believe his whole life.

And he doesn't really know Abigail (family hate strikes again) that well, but he has heard around school that her grandmother and her aunt are big in the Brooklyn voodoo community. Seeing Alex wearing that charm was most likely just as sickening to her and seeing Brian with that rosary had been to him.

Setting the book down on the table, he runs his eyes over the curves of the charm; a heart at it's center, the swirls coming down from the bottom, the cross like top. It is pretty, and yes, it does look good on her, but it means something to other people, and she should know that. "Alex, maybe you should take that off."

"Justin, you're talking again. Please stop." She rolls her eyes and picks the book off the table. He's marked the page that describes the specific charm causing the problem and she flips to it, making a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat. "Voodoo spirit of love? Oh come on, don't tell me you buy all this garbage?"

Anger flares up in his chest. "It's not garbage, Alex," he tells her. "This is serious to some people. You should show a little more respect for other people's beliefs."

"People like Abigail?"

He's silent for a few minutes, letting it all process. Justin knows his sister, knows her better than he knows anyone. And he can feel it in his bones that she's not going to listen to him. She's hates Abigail, as much as she hates anyone or anything, and now that Alex knows that her wearing a voodoo charm bothers her, she's going to keep doing it, just for spite.

"Why do I ever expect anything more from you?"

Leaving the lair, he barely, just barely, catches sight of her face as it crumples.

……

They don't speak the rest of the night, but he feels Alex's eyes on him, heavy, all through dinner and as he walks up the stairs to do his homework.

Abigail's book is lying on his bed when he gets upstairs, page still marked.

He wonders.

……


	2. Chapter 2

……

"_because i have you. and i know no matter how bad things get, or how _

_wrong i am, or how badly i screw up, you're always gonna come find me. _

_and you're always gonna catch me when i fall."_

_-carly, general hospital_

……

At half past midnight Alex shakes him awake, panic in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" He sits up at once and flicks on his bedside lamp.

Justin may have given her attitude earlier about her lack of understanding towards Abigail and the significance of the charm, but she's still his little sister and its part of the big brother job description to make sure that she's okay, however annoyed or angry he is with her he always bails her out from whatever trouble she sets into.

It's a full time job. Without hazard pay.

"It's my necklace," Alex says, shoving all of her hair to one side. "It won't come off."

"Won't?"

Shaking her head, she turns on his bed so that her back is to him. "When I tried to take it off the clasp got hot, and I tried to break the chain and couldn't."

That is not normal.

But when are their lives ever truly normal?

Justin takes the chain in his hands, fingers on either side of where it's securely fastened around her neck. The chain is too short for her to pull off over her head, so he places his thumb on the tiny lever to unlatch the other end of the chain. It doesn't budge, but it does heat up to the point that he drops it in surprise.

"See?" Alex snaps.

He wraps his hands around it again, warns her, and then pulls.

Nothing.

A thread this thin should break snap like a twig, yet it doesn't, and shows no signs that anyone tried to destroy it. When he releases his grip it falls back against her skin perfectly, not even a single twist in the links.

"What do I do?" Alex asks, and he hears the panic in her voice that makes his protective streak kick into high gear.

His hand falls to her shoulders. "Don't worry, Alex. We're going to figure this out, okay?"

Her eyes lower, landing on one of his hand on her shoulder. Odd. But she doesn't say anything. Just looks and looks and looks at his hand, face impassive.

"Alex?"

Jerking her head up, she locks onto his face and then jumps up off the bed like a hyper active jack-in-the-box. "Are you coming or not?" she demands.

Weird.

……

Alex ends up lying down on the bench in the lair and watching as Justin pores over book after book after book with a sulky expression on her face.

"Of all the times for you to be right," she complains, "it had to be now."

Justin snorts. He could tell her that he's right most of the time, but doesn't. She's probably getting pretty freaked out right now, what with her jewelry heating up and refusing to come off.

He flips a page. "Okay, I think I found something."

Alex jumps up and rushes over to the table. She leans over his shoulder to get at the book he's holding, her hair tumbling over her shoulder onto his and laying against the side of his neck. Swatting the dark strands away, he points to a picture on the page identical to the charm hanging around her neck. "Erzulie is the Voodoo Loa, or Spirit Force," he says, "of Love in the Haitian pantheon."

"A what?"

"A veve." Justin flips back several pages and shows her another section that he marked earlier that day. "A veve is a Loa's Spirit Symbol, like their signature. They call down a specific Spirit during a Voodoo ceremony. Such a design represents a Loa to be invoked, and serves both as a focal point for invocation and a kind of altar for offerings."

After a beat Alex said simply, "Yeah. All I heard was blah, blah, blah, blah."

Typical.

"Alex." He draws his words out and speaks carefully. They're wading into unfamiliar territory here and she needs to be a little more serious. The situation could get messy and if he's being perfectly honest with himself, he's a little scared. "You may just think Voodoo is a bunch of hooey, but Dad's told us more than once that other kinds of magic can be just as powerful as our own if executed correctly. Alex," he snags her wrist when she tries to turn away from him, "this is a big deal. I'm not positive, but I think you may have been cursed."

She snorts. "Cursed? Seriously?"

Throwing his hands up in exasperation, he stands up as well and looks down into his sister's eyes, trying his best to convey just how resolute he is.

"Ugh, fine," she finally says, after a brief stare down. "So I've been cursed." She says 'cursed' with all the import she applies to the goings on in politics or what her teachers say when she, again, doesn't have her homework on time. "What do we do?"

Referring back to his book, he comes up with two possible solutions to their problem. "Well, we can either try to counteract the effects ourselves-"

"Since neither of us knows anything about voodoo, I'd say let's not mess with my life, or whatever's been messed with," Alex interjects.

He huffs. "Fine. The other option is finding whoever cursed you in the first place and ask them to remove it."

Alex's face twists for a second, thinking and he suppresses an involuntary chuckle. Then her expression clears and she latches on to his forearm, digging her fingernail into his skin. "Abigail!"

Justin tries; in vain it turns out, to shake her very painful grip on his arm, but no use. "What does Abigail have to do with any of this?"

Now that the aggravation and indifference to the situation has apparently subsided, her entire face is lit up, her eyes bright with all the energy that usually infuses Alex's face when she's latched onto something. "Remember how upset she got that I was wearing this? What if she decided to teach me a lesson by putting a curse on me?"

He pauses. The theory actually has some weight.

Leave it to Alex to choose now to throw a curveball into the situation.

So they devise a strategy. First thing tomorrow they're going to find Abigail and demand (Alex's word, Justin tries to get her to settle on ask) her to remove whatever curse she's placed on Alex.

……

As it happens, because the universe seems to have deigned that his sister will forever complicate his life, Abigail isn't in school the next day. Or the day after that.

Finally, Justin asks Alex who she hangs out and approaches a girl, a pretty girl he vaguely remembers seeing at the science fair, where she is.

"Out of town," she replies, a small giggle escaping her. "Her uncle is sick so she and parents went to New Orleans yesterday morning."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

She shakes her head and blonde curls bounce around her head. "It depends on how bad he is and whether he needs surgery."

Sighing, Justin thanks her and goes to track his sister down.

He finds her across the street buying an iced latte. Approaching her slowly, he cringes when Alex's eyes meet his. He has always been an open book as far as his sister is concerned, and they both know it. She takes one look at his face and he can see her huff from halfway across the street.

"Don't even tell me," she says when he's close enough.

Justin shrugs and hopes he looks suitably apologetic. "Abigail's out of town."

Grunting, Alex kicks the trash can by the coffee cart, eliciting a protest from the barista. "So now what?" She takes a sip, and then surprises him by holding her cup out to him in offer of a drink. Weird.

He takes it.

Handing it back, he starts walking back towards the school, Alex falling into step beside him. "I guess all we can do is wait until she gets back."

"No!" Alex takes hold of the bottom edge of his tee shirt and steers him into an alcove just outside the main school doors. "Justin, I can't be cursed any more, okay. I'm starting to…I just can't," she finishes abruptly.

That's…interesting.

Narrowing his eyes, Justin crosses his hands over his chest and looks her up and down. She makes quite the picture; she's fidgety and won't look at him, and if he's not mistaken…

"Are you…blushing?"

"Psh." She begins to sputter and laughs a little forced laugh. "Yeah right."

And she's still not looking at him.

Hmm. His big brother senses are tingling.

"Alex, when you said you 'can't' be cursed anymore, what were did you mean by that?"

"Uh, nothing." She stalks off, dodging through the typical Tribecca Prep lunchtime crowd towards her locker.

He points a finger at her in accusation. "Yes you did, Alex. You said you were 'starting to' and then you broke off." leaning into her, he drops his voice. "What are you starting to do?" try as he might, Justin can't stop the smirk that spreads over his face. Clearly, the 'love god' adage wasn't far off and she's feeling something about someone.

So sue him. It's funny.

"Who is he?"

Alex's head jerks up, eyes wide and horrified. He laughs, and her expression falls into a scowl. "I hate you." With a sneer she turns on her heel and stomps off down the hall.

The bell rings before he can go after her. Chuckling under his breath, he heads off to Trig.

……


	3. Chapter 3

……

_will we bend, or will we _

_open up and let this whole thing in_

_-mockingbird, rob thomas _

……

Alex doesn't speak to him the rest of the day. But that's probably his fault for continuing to badger her. Maybe it is just a little bit cruel, but the temptation is too much for him to resist.

Then she goes and gets them both grounded when she dumps a bowl of soup that he had been taking to one of the regulars at table three over his head.

"This is all your fault," she hisses under her breath.

Of course it is. "How is _you_ dumping soup on _my_ head _my_ fault?"

She pauses and thinks about it for a second before flailing her hands a little in exasperation and sputters, "I don't know, it just is."

He snorts, earning him a glare.

"Enough." Their mother comes into the kitchen where she had exiled them after their blowup so she and their dad could apologize to the customer. "You two," she points her finger at them, "are going to be paying for the two weeks worth of free lunches we just had to give the customer who spends a fortune in here on a daily basis." she shoots glares at them before announcing that they're grounded for a month.

"A month?" Justin jumps up, indignant beyond the telling. He's never been grounded for more than a single weekend in his entire life. He shoots his sister the dirtiest look he can imagine. She sneers at him in response, murder in her eyes.

His mother gives him a similar look so he sits back down, shuts up, and waits for her to leave the room before he turns on his sulking sister.

"Just so you know, the only reason I'm still speaking to you is because you've been cursed and you need my help."

Eyes downcast, she sniffs dismissively and replies, "The only reason I'm still speaking to you is because I've been cursed and need your help."

Odd.

He doesn't think she's ever really admitted to needing his help before. Implied it, sure. Asked for it, repeatedly. Even demanded it on several occasions. But she's never actually come out and admitted to it.

"Fine."

"Fine."

……

"I think I've got something," Justin says.

Alex walks over to stand behind him at his desk. There's nothing they can do about whatever is going on, magically speaking, until they know how to get to Abigail. She leans over and even though he can't see her, Justin just knows that she's grimacing at the picture on the screen of the store.

"Justin, I am not going to some head shop in Brooklyn. Abigail will be back in a few days."

Justin swivels his chair around to look up at her. He looks at her, but she doesn't look back at him. Like before, she's fixed her gaze on the floor and she's shifting her weight back and forth between her feet.

He starts to think that maybe, just maybe, she's embarrassed about something, but there's no way she would ever cop to it and he's not anxious for another soup shower, so he decides its best to just not mention it and try to talk some sense into her.

Emphasis on try.

It has been a long time coming after all.

"Alex, I know you like to believe that if you ignore something it goes away, but it doesn't." She tips her head up and to the side; just enough for him to see that she's rolling her eyes. Her arms are crossed over her chest in an exact picture of the beginning stages of the temper tantrums she used to throw as a kid. He takes hold of her wrist and tugs so she'll look at him. She does, and then her eyes flash, jerking her arm out of his grip and goes back a few steps.

She looks angry, almost wild even. Out of nowhere.

"Calm down, Alex, jeeze." He stands up and closes the distance between them. "is it just me or is that thing giving you mood swings all of a sudden?"

"I'm still not going to Brooklyn."

"You love Brooklyn," he argues. "You'd move there if the shopping was better."

Again, Alex rolls her eyes and her lips purse into a line so thin they all but disappear on her face. He's got her and she knows it.

"So why don't you want to go?" when she doesn't answer he takes another step towards her.

And she takes one back away from him in response.

Justin sighs in exasperation. "Alex…"

Finally, she looks at him, still wearing her angry face. "I just don't want to, okay?"

"No. No, its not okay."

Sticking her lower lip out in an exaggerated pout, she huffs and sighs and just generally acts like a baby until throwing her hands up. "Maybe, just maybe, I might possibly be a little more freaked out about all this than I may have led you to believe."

Aha. "I figured it was something like that."

He gets a sneer in response.

"So then we're going?"

"Do we really have to?" Alex is full out whining now, and he pinches the bridge of his nose to stave off the headache he feels forming behind his eyes.

"Yes, Alex, we have to. Its Abigail's grandmother's shop and its our only option right now."

"Ugh, fine. Let's just go and get it over with," she says and stomps out of his bedroom.

This is not going to be fun.

……

Sneaking out of the apartment isn't something Justin is well versed in, but Alex apparently is a veteran and she leads him down the stairs past his parents (who have confiscated their wands) and out the back entrance of the building.

"Doesn't this door lock from the inside?" he asks once their out.

There's a pipe sitting behind a stack of boxes across the street that Alex pulls out like a hidden key and slides it between the door and the frame. "Easy fix."

Obviously.

It's getting late so they practically have to run to get to the subway station before the last train runs for the night. When Alex begins to lag behind (boots, naturally) he has to reach back and take hold of her hand. She stumbles just a bit. He must have messed up her balance or something. Then she rights herself and they make the last train out just in the nick of time.

……

Justin worries about what they're going to say when they get to the shop. It's late, especially for a weeknight, and he has absolutely no idea how they're going to get in or how to tell the owner that they believe her granddaughter cursed Alex for her lack of tact and respect.

Luck seems to be on their side for once though and the lettering on the front door says they're open every night until midnight.

He opens the door, holding it open with his palm against the glass so Alex can walk in in front of him. She stares at him for a second, just looking and looking and looking, before finally blinking and walking under his arm with her head down.

The tiny shop would be easy to miss on the best days, but now that he's inside Justin is pretty certain that he will never forget the smell of candles and incense and something spicier hitting him, and the way he jumps when he cocks his head and almost goes nose to nose with a carved wooden mask.

Or the fact that Alex doesn't laugh at him.

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

"Hello there."

He jumps again and spins around so fast he knocks into a table of books by the front door. Alex rolls her eyes while he straightens everything back out, but she doesn't say anything to either him or the woman walking towards them. He moves towards her and extends his hand. "Hello ma'am, my name is Justin and this is my sister," he gestures back at the still mute Alex, "and we have kind of a problem."

"How may I help?" she asks, voice and eyes kind. She doesn't look how Justin had pictured someone who owned a voodoo supply store to look; long scarves and chunky rings and maybe a turban or something. Instead she looks, well, like someone's grandmother, in a sweater set and a thin strand of pearls, her curly hair liberally streaked with gray and pulled back from a face with deep lines etched into her cocoa colored skin.

Taking hold of Alex's elbow, he propels her forward. If this woman can help she needs to be able to see the source of the problem after all.

"Ah," she says, "I see. Come, come." She waves her arms and ushers them towards the back of the store, through a beaded curtain that could be straight out of a horror movie séance scene to a small, well lit room with a low round table surrounded by squishy looking chairs. "Sit."

Alex has gone tense beside him, and Justin has to all but push her down into one of the overstuffed chairs and plops into the one beside it. "Well, what happened-"

She raises a hand, silently quieting him, and turns her attention to Alex. "Now. I'm assuming that you're the one in trouble?"

Alex nods.

"I thought as much. Now, my name is Evelyn. What's yours?"

"Alex."

Pulling a thick book with faded gold lettering across the front and a small velvet pouch from the low shelf behind her chair, she flips open to a page not dissimilar to the one they had looked at in the book Abigail had given Justin. "So, Alex, judging by that necklace hanging around your neck, I'd say you've found yourself in the midst of some bizarre thoughts, am I right?"

"Something like that," Alex says, her voice thin and so un-Alex like that, if he had not been there, Justin would not have known it was his sister speaking.

Evelyn nodded again, beginning to pull items out of the pouch and pushing them forward. "Maitresse Erzulie," she says and produces a small bowl from underneath the table, "an ideal figure of delicate and alluring womanhood."

Justin snorts. Alex flushes.

He tries, _tries_, not to laugh.

Sliding her eyes at him in a sideways glance, Evelyn turns the book towards Alex. "Ordinarily my dear a charm such as yours would pose no problems, but the fact that you're here so late on a school night leads me to believe that you something is amiss." Off Alex's nod Evelyn asks her to tell what's been going on.

"Oh, uh, well…"

Alex stammering is never a good sign.

"The truth," Justin injects, "is that Alex and I go to school with your granddaughter and she and Alex have never really gotten along and to be honest, she had a problem with Alex wearing this necklace."

His sister glares at him so hard he's worried her gaze is going to cause holes to literally burn into him but he doesn't smell smoke so he guesses he's safe.

Evelyn chuckles and they both stare at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry," she says, "but even if Abby wanted to curse you, she couldn't. I taught her to respect the magicks but she doesn't practice them."

He feels something inside himself deflate, and Alex looks to be in a similar state, and it's not hard to know why. If it wasn't Abigail…who was it?

"So what do we do?" Justin asks and pats Alex on the shoulder. She flinches, honestly flinches, and he pulls back in worry. He can't explain it, but it sort of…hurts…a little.

"It seems to me that you've come into contact with a bokor."

Justin and Alex exchange looks of mutual confusion. That was one word that Justin hadn't come across in his reading. Granted it was too detailed or even very extensive but he'd thought he'd covered the basics.

"A what?" Alex asks. "Isn't that the thing from Harry Potter?"

Justin groans.

Chuckling, Evelyn begins spreading bottles and packets of what look like herbs-he hopes they're herbs-out on the table and then what looks like a small jewelry box. "A bokor," she explains with eminent patience, "is a sorcerer who performs Spiritual Work in exchange for money. Unlike a priest or priestess of the Loa, a bokor works with both hands, which in the Spiritual Church is a term for black magick, and they generally perform rituals that initiated practitioners would never dream of touching."

Not good.

Out of the corner of his eye, Justin sees Alex wrap her arms around herself.

He doesn't think he has ever, ever, seen his sister looking so scared, except maybe when after the battle and he forgot her.

He thinks about that now, about Alex with tears running down her face and her voice so pain stricken that even though he didn't really know her, he knew she was telling the truth. He reaches his hand out again and lays it against her arm instinctively. She doesn't pull away this time.

"So is there anything we can do?" Justin looks back and forth between his sister and Evelyn.

Alex chimes in, sounding a bit more like herself, finally. "Seriously, I'd like to take this thing off now. It's not really so cute anymore."

They all chuckle.

"Well, the strength of the magicks depend on the power of whoever is behind it, as well as your own power."

After a worried look at her brother, Alex knits her brows together with a 'huh?' look on her face that he's used to seeing after she leaves algebra every day. "My power?"

"You see, we believe very heavily in karma in our teachings, and in a distinct moral code, with an emphasis on resisting the vices of dishonor and greed. The more susceptible you are to these things, the more likely that the black magicks will work on you."

Justin snorts. Now it makes sense.

"We're not Satanists, as we're sometimes painted. We don't sit around with dolls and make people lose their hair or embarrass themselves. We believe in putting positivity back into the universe." She levels a long, serious look on his sister that makes even Justin squirm in the face of such scrutiny. Can she tell that Alex probably doesn't rate very high on a karmic scale? Not on the good side at least. "There are other factors of course, but their not as noteworthy as your own personal spiritual well being."

Justin leans forward, hand on his knees. "Like what?"

"Well," Evelyn says, "there is a very strong tie between voodoo and other religions, especially Pentecostalism and Catholicism. Are you Catholic?"

They nod.

"I thought as much." She opens the box, indeed a jewelry box, and hands Alex a heavy silver cross on a long chain. "Used in voodoo ceremonies, the cross represents the Voodoo Loa, Papa Legba, the Guardian of the Crossroads. Wearing this won't cancel out the effects of what you're suffering from, but it should help. Assuming you're a good Catholic."

This time its Alex that groans.

"Then perhaps you should give that to your target."

Head snapping up, Alex stares at Evelyn with wide eyes and an open mouth. He wants to nudge her and tell her she's being rude, but he's a little too wigged out to even care.

"My target?"

With a kind smile and a sad chuckle, Evelyn offers them cookies from a jar behind her. Alex takes one and nibbles quietly.

"Erzulie is the Loa of love," she states and yeah, they kind of already knew that. "There is someone you're finding yourself drawn to, isn't there?"

Alex's cheeks flare up an almost unnatural red. Justin has been curious about that particular detail himself. Alex's behavior though has been so clear on the subject and the message she's been sending him is 'back off' as clear as day. Her reaction now…well, it just makes him all the more curious. But he doesn't dare ask her right now. She's obviously mortified enough and he doesn't want to cause a scene when Evelyn is being so kind in helping them.

"I'd really, really, rather not talk about that little detail," Alex says. "Really."

"Fine, fine." Evelyn picks up a few of the small bottles she'd been fiddling with and hands them to Justin. "You'll need these for the uncrossing potion."

"Uncrossing potion?"

She nods. "It won't solve your dilemma unfortunately, but it generally helps keep the spirits at bay. You," she turns to Justin, "have clearly done your homework, so I trust that whatever book you've read (he flushes a bit himself, somewhat flattered) will have the instructions. And when you know more about the origins of your curse, come back and we'll see what we can do."

"Hold on." Alex stands as well. She looks at Evelyn, looks at Justin, looks and looks as if she doesn't quite believe what's going on. "That's it? Make a potion, give the guy a cross, and hope for the best?"

"Alex!" Justin grabs her elbow but she swats him away.

"No," she insists, sounding vaguely on the verge of tears. "I can't keep wanting to-" Her eyes goes wide and she clamps her mouth shut. He narrows his eyes, growing more suspicious than ever.

"Justin?"

Evelyn's voice pulls his attention and startles him. He almost drops the bottles but manages to keep his grip on the slippery glass.

"Would you mind giving Alex and I a few minutes to talk privately?"

His eyes snap to his sister, checking. She looks pissed and annoyed and while he's glad not to be on the receiving end of that look for once, he doubts if leaving Alex and Evelyn alone is a wise decision. Then Alex nods reluctantly so he steps out to stand by the front door and hopes for the best.

……

_**Yeah…a little dry, sorry. **_


	4. Chapter 4

……

_benedick: suffer love! a good epithet. i do suffer love indeed,_

_for i love thee against my will. _

_-much ado about nothing; act 5, scene 2_

……

It takes about half an hour before Alex finally comes out to where Justin is standing. Her appearance is alarming to say the least; she's pale and her eyes are red. She's been crying he realizes, and quite a bit because she's still breathing a little shakily. His instincts kick in and he puts an arm around her, which she only allows for a few seconds before pulling away from him.

"Alex…"

She shakes her head. "I just want to go home and make the stupid potion."

Evelyn has followed Alex out, face still kind, yet grave at the same time. Justin could go into a panic right now, seeing how affected both of them are by whatever was said that he had not been privy to, but he can't. Alex is clearly getting very upset about what's going on and she needs him to be strong for her.

He thanks Evelyn, offers to pay her for the potion ingredients, but she declines. Bidding them goodbye, she tells them to take care and watch out for signs around them.

Oookay.

Alex is quiet as they walk down the street, and she doesn't look like she can handle the subway right now so Justin calls a cab and they sit on a bus stop a few blocks away and wait for it. Licking his lips, he attempts to get her to talk to him about what happened between her and Evelyn.

"I don't want to talk about it," she says, voice hoarse and scratchy. It makes his heart hurt. He tries again, but clamps his mouth shut when he sees a lone tear travel the length of her cheek. "Justin, please."

"Okay." He pulls her against his side, squeezing her shoulder and this time she lets him.

……

Justin grumbles the whole way home and after they've gone into the lair to start on the potion. Evelyn had failed to mention that in order for the Uncrossing Potion to work, they have to make it on a Saturday during the waning moon. Otherwise it's just a big puddle of smelly oils. Alex doesn't look too pleased when he tells her this.

"Well, when is that?"

Looking at the Great Wizards calendar on the wall by the table in the lair, he mutters a curse under his breath. Alex would never let him hear the end of it if she overheard him. "Next week."

Alex curses, not even trying to be quiet or subtle about it. "Perfect."

Scolding her is second nature, as is her eyes roll as she shoves him away and plops onto the bench, face buried in her arms. "I hate this," she says quietly.

"I know." Justin moves her legs and sits, taking her feet into his lap. He's not entirely sure, but he thinks he feels her muscles stiffen under his hand. "Don't worry, Alex. We're going to fix this. I promise."

"I believe you'll try, I really do." She turns onto her back, propping the round cushion under her head so she can look at him. There's sincerity in her eyes, just like when she stood on front of him, tears streaming down her face, and begged him not to forget her, not to leave her. He's always been his sister's punching bag, but he's also her hero. Justin knows that, even if she never says it. And her faith in him means more than he'll ever tell her.

There's a lot that Justin and Alex never talk about.

"But what if we can't?"

That's the only point of doubt in this whole thing. Justin doesn't like to think about when he lost the competition, about the sickening disappointment that settled heavy in his stomach until it all went blank, and ever since he's strived even harder in his studies, in his practice. He can't face the idea of another failure.

"We will." He pats her knee, hoping it reassures her just a bit. "Trust me, Alex."

After a few moments, face oddly blank, she whispers, "I do."

……

He must have fallen asleep, for the next thing he's aware of is opening his suddenly heavy eyes and Alex is no longer stretched out on the other end of bench that is really not built to accommodate sleeping. Instead she's sitting up with her legs curled under her, face pressed into his neck and her hand resting on his chest. His arm is draped over her back, fingers just brushing where her shirt has ridden up just a bit with her movements.

One thing he's aware of is how very warm she is where their skin touches. Too warm. She doesn't have a fever so he guesses it has something to do with the curse, and yeah, it kinda makes him even sleepier.

So he closes his eyes and he's out in seconds.

……

When he comes to again Alex is no longer using him as a human body pillow. She's sitting at the other end of the ridiculously small bench staring at him. Her arms are crossed, sitting on her legs that she has pulled up in front of her, resting her cheek on one elbow.

Creepy, but also? Sort of cute.

"Are you watching me sleep?"

"Psh," Alex sputters. "Ego much? I was debating the best way to go about pushing you off the seat to wake you up."

That sounds more like her.

He sits up, stretching his stiff muscles out, feeling a kink take root in his neck. "Ouch."

Rolling her eyes, Alex leans over and lays her index and middle fingers against the exact right spot and rubs in a hard, deep circle for a few seconds.

"Thanks," he says, warily. Alex is the only one who is ever able to do that and she always wants something in return. Something way bigger usually, but he gives in because the last time he refused he ended up with muscle spasms for an hour. And then he gave in.

"I think I figured it out."

It takes a few seconds before that makes its way through Justin's muddled brain to process. "You did?"

She makes a face at him, making him realize that he sounded more than a little skeptical. "Yes, doubter, I did. Remember that old woman who sold me this?"

He nods. Not like he's going to forget the reason their entire family almost missed their plane any time soon.

"Well, I saw her before that," Alex says. She shifts on the seat, her eyes bright and wow, she must have been up for a while now if she's this alert. The strange just keeps on coming. "Actually, I saw her a lot. The only time I don't remember seeing her lurking around was when we were in the jungle." Her cheeks go red, just a smidge. Alex has already informed him that they're not going to talk about that. Ever again.

Seeing as how he lost his powers to his ill prepared little sister, he agreed.

"So you think she did this to you?" Her head bobs. "Why?"

Shrugging, she stands up. "Who knows? I saw her around, but that was the first time I actually spoke to her. So…" Alex reaches out for his wrist and hauls him to his feet, begins pulling him over to the middle of the room. "We need to go ask her."

Justin shakes his head. He couldn't have heard that right. "Alex, we cannot go back to the Caribbean."

She huffs. "So what-you just want me to spend the rest of my life with a _curse_ on me?"

Okay, so maybe she has a point.

Thinking about it for a minute, Justin weighs the options and just how much trouble they're going to be in when their parents discover that they're not home after they've been grounded. And then there's the whole skipping school thing. "Does the curse hurt?"

Alex punches him the arm, as hard as she can. He can tell.

Justin rolls his eyes and grabs the controller for the IPP.

If he misses a pop quiz, he's going to kill her.

……

Of course the first person they see is Javier.

"Alex, you are back." He gives her that charming smile, with way too much teeth if you ask Justin, and tries to sidle up close to her. She steps away, closer to her brother. Javier looks stunned. Tucking the IPP controller in his back pocket, Justin merely smirks.

Not too much though. "Listen, we're looking for a woman that was selling jewelry by the front of the hotel the day we left. Have you seen her?"

He thinks about it for a moment. "Was she old? Selling voodoo dolls?"

"Yes!" Both of them exclaim.

Javier nods. "Miss Vivianne. She's lived on the island for years. She and her husband immigrated to New Orleans from Africa when they were young, and then they retired here when I was little." He leans in. "Between us," he whispers, "she's not a lady you want to tick off, so be careful."

"Is it because of the voodoo?" Alex asks, eyes very big.

He nods. "Yeah. And she hates kids."

Just perfect.

Javier tells them where they can find her, on the outskirts of the town, in a small beach hut. He warns them not to stare at the chickens, which doesn't make sense until they come up on her house and see an entire row of various chicken parts hanging on wires in front of the house.

"Ew," Alex mutters, and Justin nudges her.

With extreme trepidation, Justin walks to the front door and knocks. Alex stands behind him, peering over his shoulder but pretty much using him as a human shield.

When the door opens, Justin feels a chill run over his entire body. The depth of intensity with which the old woman is looking at him shakes him down to his very core. He feels Alex grip at the back of his shirt, moving further into him.

Clearing his throat, Justin begins to speak slowly and carefully. "I'm sorry to bother you ma'am, but we need your help."

"We?" The short word is so accented that it's hard for him to understand it.

He shifts to the side, allowing her to see Alex behind him and the charm around her neck that's brought them here.

A smile, mocking, wicked, somewhat malevolent, contorts the corners of her wrinkled lips. "Ah yes. I remember you."

Alex looks petrified. Justin takes her hand, feeling her squeeze with all her might.

"We think," Justin says once it becomes clear that Alex is not going to speak, "that this necklace my sister bought from you is causing her some trouble."

The old woman nods and moves from her doorway. With slow, methodical steps, she leads the way to a small wooden table, streaked and cracked with age and weather, and mismatched iron chairs in a variety of colors beside her fence. Still holding her hand, Justin all but drags Alex along with him. Her eyes are trained on an enormous glass jar full of what look like pig's feet and he jerks her hand hard. The last thing they need is to insult the only person who can help them. Possibly.

"What leads you to my door?" Vivianne asks in her thick brogue that sounds like a deep southern dialect layered over French. "In need of chicken feet?"

The fact that she finds this funny says a lot.

He opens his mouth, but Alex beats him to it. "I can't get this thing off," she says, fire in her dark eyes. "And I'm having these weird…" Casting a sidelong look at her brother, she drops her voice, tone dripping with embarrassment. "I keep getting these bizarre urges and I don't like it." She crosses her arms over her chest and levels that patented 'don't mess with me' stare she uses frequently on him on the older woman. "Not one bit."

To Justin's amazement, Vivianne chuckles. "You remind me of myself when I was your age." She crosses her withered hands on the table in front of her and her various bejeweled rings catch the bright early morning sun. "When I saw you at the resort," she begins, "I could feel the unresolved issues in your heart, and I felt your magic."

Justin and Alex exchange a worried look, but say nothing.

"My husband, he was a wizard. A very powerful wizard." Vivianne's eyes go distant, dreamy. "He gave up his powers to be with me."

He feels like he's heard this story before.

"We were never blessed with children," she continues. "And I always felt that my husband was more hurt by that than he let on. He made it his mission to help those in need, particularly those who are forced to keep secrets of any kind. He traveled the world helping people who were persecuted and ridiculed for things they could not help. He died four years ago. Now I carry on for him."

This is the woman that Javier is so scared of? Justin shakes his head, firmly deciding that the older boy is every bit the idiot he believed him to be.

"Well that's nice and all," Alex says, setting Justin's inner panic alarm off, "but I don't have any 'unresolved issues' that need to be dealt with."

Vivianne nods slowly, reaching across the table to pat Alex's hand. "Not all pain is known to us. Sometimes, it takes a while before we're aware of the symptoms ourselves."

Justin stares at his sister, shocked, concerned. He hates the thought of her being in pain, actual pain, that he had been unable to see.

Shaking her head, Alex sits up straighter in her chair, showing all the classic signs of getting worked up. "I really don't think so."

"The necklace won't come off," Vivianne repeats, her voice firm in a way that makes Alex close her mouth. "And it won't until the feelings it's brought to your attention are dealt with."

"What?!"

Alex has stood up before Justin even realizes she's stood p, knocking the chair she was sitting in backwards, shaking with fury and murder in her eyes.

He grabs at her. "Alex, calm down."

"No!" She starts crying now. Rounding on Vivianne, she starts shouting. "This isn't fair! You don't even know me, never even spoke to me, and what-you sought me out to give me this cursed necklace all because you 'recognize' that I'm in pain? That's a bunch of crap."

Justin stands and takes hold of his sister's shoulders. She's scaring him. He's never seen her so upset in his life. Not even when he forgot her. Then she was just scared. Now she's scared, angry, and hurting.

It terrifies him.

"Alex, calm down." Her face is all red, she's still sobbing, and he's worried she's going to pass out if she doesn't control herself.

She collapses against him, clutching at his shirt and soaking his neck with tears. "I can't do it, Justin, I can't. Please help me."

If there's a point beyond so completely and absolutely scared out of your mind, Justin thinks he just reached it.

He turns to Vivianne, desperate. "Please, can't you get this off of her?"

For the first time, she doesn't look amused by any of this, or placating, or like she's merely humoring them through Alex's denial. "I'm afraid not. I put a very specific enchantment on that particular charm, one that would draw your sister. I could see it in her aura from a thousand yards. There are some very strong feelings she's been burying. Until she sorts them out, her own magic will just continue to intensify Erzulie's call."

Alex works her hands between their bodies and pushes herself away from Justin. Gasping for air, she pleads with her eyes for him to just do something.

He shakes his head, feeling more helpless than ever before, he holds his hands up in defeat. He hates, hates, that he can't make this better for her.

"I'm sorry," Alex whispers. Then she turns and runs toward the beach.

Now what?

……


	5. Chapter 5

……

_and i need you to know there ain't no place that's safer honey_

_-longing for, ballas hough band_

……

He finds her sitting on the beach about an hour later. For once she's not doing anything devious or against some rule or law, she's not plotting a way out of or into something she has no business dealing with, she's not being typically Alex lazy.

She's just…sitting there, legs up to her chin, staring out over the water.

As he approaches her, Justin can't help but notice how tiny she looks against the expansive backdrop.

He plops down beside her, turning his own gaze towards the ocean. "We need to get back."

She doesn't say anything. Folding her arms over her raised knees, she lays her cheek on her arm and looks at him. Her expression is hard to decipher, and this is a girl who is always so full on in what she's doing (besides school) that you know whether she's angry or bored or up to no good, just by being in close proximity.

His whole life, Justin has been teased, mercilessly, by his sister for being displaying his emotions so openly-and vocally. What he's never told her is that she's exactly the same. At least to him.

"I've been thinking," Alex says slowly, and he bites back a smart aleck comment-just this once, "and I think its best if I stay here."

That…he can't even comprehend it.

"Be serious, Alex. You can't stay here."

She lifts her head, lower lip protruding in a pout. "Justin, this isn't just some harebrained scheme of mine, okay. I've seriously thought about this."

"Oh really?" He sits up a little straighter and gives her his best doubting, disapproving big brother look. "Then tell me, since you're so serious about this, while you're staying here; where are you going to live?"

Alex opens her mouth, and then promptly clamps it shut.

He figured as much. But he still has a point to make.

"What about school? French is big here and you failed English."

Alex makes a face at him.

That's how he knows he's getting to her. "And what about money? I doubt Mom and Dad are going to support this idea. Odds are that once they find out they're going to come down here and drag you kicking and screaming back to New York."

Expelling a petulant huff of indignation, Alex turns her head away from him.

The only way to pull Alex out of sulking is to bribe her, or make her angry enough that she forgets about whatever she was upset about in the first place.

"And let's not forget how much trouble we'd both be in. I can just see that conversation. 'Hi, Mom, Dad, I know Alex and I are supposed to be grounded, but we had to transport ourselves back to the Caribbean because she went and got a voodoo curse put on her and then suggested I leave her; my impulsive, irresponsible, 16 year old little sister there, all alone."

Alex whips her head around to glare at him with more venom in her eyes than he's ever seen before-and that's saying something. They have had some doozy fights after all.

He knew it would work, he just hadn't been anticipating a reaction quite this strong.

"It's not about you, Justin," she seethes. "I know you like to think that I make everything about me, and sometimes, yeah, I do. But this actually _is_ about me and something really horrible that I'm going through."

It isn't often that Justin is rightfully shamed by his sister. So when it does happen, it hits him like a sucker punch to the stomach.

"And I'm not just your little sister," she continues on, her tirade gaining momentum now, "and I'm not as helpless as you think I am. I-" Having progressed to full out shouting, Alex pauses to take a deep breath. "This is the best thing, Justin, it is."

"Alex…"

"You asked me to trust you," she says. "Now I'm asking you to trust me."

……

He begs off by saying he needs some time to think about it. In reality, he's walking the length of the shore turning over ideas of how to get her home before she can stop him in his head.

There's the classic grab her and hit the IPP before she can get away. Maybe stealing her wand and using transportation spell on her. Or, and this is his last resort, he can call their parents.

And his sister will never speak to him again.

At least she'd be safe. Well, safer.

But those are all lost causes, and he knows it. Alex seems to have made her mind up about all of this and if he truly wanted to keep her safe and out of trouble, if he wanted to help her, there was only one thing to do.

……

"Okay," he says, "we're staying."

Alex blinks up at him, disbelieving. She stands from the same spot she's been sitting on for close to two hours now (and Alex is never in one place that long unless she's asleep) and draws herself up to her full height. "I'm sorry; I must have voodoo in my ears. Did you just say 'we' are staying?"

Justin nods. "If you're staying, I'm staying."

Mouth dropping open, she shakes her head and presses the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Oh my God, this is not happening."

"Alex." He places a hand on her arm and she jerks backwards, just like she's been doing since this whole thing started.

If he didn't know any better, he would think she blames him for this.

"Justin, the reason I want to stay here is just to get away from all this. That means you can't stay with me. You need to go home."

Yeah. That's not happening.

"I am not leaving you in another country by yourself, Alex," he all but shouts, drawing the attention of a few beach goers several feet away. He lowers his voice and moves in closer, all too aware of a hesitant look in his sister's eyes. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."

She nods, slowly, and sinks back down onto the sand.

Justin sits beside her. There's not really much he can do just yet.

A few moments, during which time he contemplates how he's going to explain all of this mess to his parents, pass before Alex starts speaking again.

"So," she says, "you won't let me stay here by myself-"

"Absolutely not."

"-and I don't want you to stay here with me. I don't really want to go home and deal with all this…what am I supposed to do?"

Alex turns her big eyes on him, pleading and sad and so, so young.

He thinks of his sister as immature, childish, spoiled-a whole plethora of adjectives really. And then she'll look at him, like she is right now, asking him to make it all better, and he remembers, despite all of her bravado and big talk, just how very young his little sister actually is.

So he's not much older, but there's a big difference between 16 and 18, especially when one person is responsible and dependable and the other is as far from it as humanly possible.

"I don't know, Alex," he says. "We've gone to two experts and both of them have pretty much said flat out that you've got to confront whatever is going on before this will go away."

"I can't do that." Ah, there's the stubborn sister he knows and tolerates.

This is getting frustrating. To say the least.

Scrubbing a hand over his hair, Justin sighs. "Can you at least tell me why you don't want to deal with this? Or why you don't want to go home?"

She says nothing. Merely turns her face away from him, silent.

"Alex," he prods.

"Leave me alone."

Now they're back in the sulking phase. Perfect.

"No." Justin scoots closer and lays a hand on her shoulder blade. She flinches. "Alex, you know I'm not going to give up. All you have to do is talk to me."

Still, she remains quiet.

He's not giving up that easily. Alex may be stubborn and difficult, and Lord knows she's as willful as they come, but if there's anybody who's just as obstinate as she is, it's Justin.

Then…something strange happens.

Justin's hand is still on Alex's back, trying to comfort her in any way he can. And it's bizarre, but he feels like his palm grows warmer and warmer the longer it stays on her shoulder. His mind flashes back to that morning when he'd awoken with her body curled into his and thinking that she felt almost feverish to the touch, even through their clothes.

When it grows from feeling warm, to feeling somewhat dizzy, he begins to worry.

"Alex, when you were talking to Evelyn," she begins, prompted by a very odd idea, "did she elaborate on anything she told us?"

"Like what?" she asks, voice small and wary, a little scared.

"Well, she and Vivianne both mentioned that having power of your own makes you more susceptible to other types of magic. Did-" he unsure how to phrase it, how not to sound like an idiot. "Did either of them happen to mention what would happen if it all the loa's…energies…were, you know, focused on someone who also had powers?"

Now Alex looks at him, face ashen, dark eyes impossibly wide. "Why?"

Aha.

"It just makes sense," he says. "It affects you so strongly because you're a wizard. Say…you liked a guy that was descended from Salem witches or Druids or something. Wouldn't that make the pull even stronger? For both of you?"

"Why are you asking me?" Alex demands in a hard tone. "You're supposed to be the smart one, right?"

She's defensive. Never a good sign.

He can't tell her, can he? Can he look his baby sister in the eye and tell her that he's afraid the charm will start working on him? That the call of magic to magic, ancient and indefensible, may be just as potent to him as it is to her?

Does he dare do that to her, with everything else she's going through?

Some of the anger in Alex's expression slips. Her face relaxes and, entirely subconsciously, Justin's hand starts to rub a circle between her shoulder blades, the heat in his palm increasing, beginning to tingle.

"Justin…I need to tell you something," Alex whispers, and his eyes fall to her lips as they form the words.

He feels himself jerk, catching the thoughts running through his head, the bad, bad thoughts, before they can do any more damage.

Taking a deep breath, Justin prepares himself for whatever Alex is about to tell him.

……


	6. Chapter 6

……

_"One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes."_

_-Antoine de Saint Exupery_

……

Heart in his throat, Justin leans closer to his sister and asks what she has to tell him.

"You" Alex begins, "you're kind of…getting on my nerves." She catches him off guard when she shoves at his shoulder, sending him sprawling onto the sand.

Spitting out the grains that ended up in his mouth, he righted himself and glared at his sister. "I'm only trying to help."

She says nothing, which only infuriates him more. All he's done this entire time is try to fix this for her-like he always does. But of course she doesn't appreciate it. She never does. And now he thinks he was just crazy, thinking that he was _feeling_ anything as a result of this whole stupid voodoo nonsense. Like it would even work on him-even if he were out of his mind enough to believe that she could possibly…

He stands, looking down at her huddled figure on the sand, and sighs. "I'm gonna go call Mom and Dad and let them know we're not dead, and then I'm gonna grab something to eat. You want anything?"

Still, she doesn't respond, which would worry him if it didn't add to his aggravation. Alex is always hungry. But he's tired of dealing with her. "Fine. I'll be back to get you and then we'll go home." He reaches down and snatches her wand out of her pocket, just in case. She doesn't even protest.

"Fine. Sit there and sulk. See if I care."

(He does though. A lot.)

His parents are angry, duh. Angrier than usual and that's saying a lot after some of the stunts Alex has pulled. Like when she was nine and turned Max into a beetle so she could watch some lame dance movie on TV two hours after she was supposed to be in bed. They did skip out on grounding and transport themselves to another country so he can kind of see their point.

Then he says that he couldn't very well let Alex come down here on her own. She's Alex. Supervision is necessary.

They agree and tell him to get her home as soon as he can.

(One skill he's glad he picked up from his sister-a modicum of stealth. He just never knew how glad he was until he slipped the cell phone back behind the counter of the juice bar before the guy noticed it was missing.)

And even though Alex said (implied) that she doesn't want anything to eat, Justin knows she must be as hungry as he is so he buys her an extra large Danish and a smoothie. Too much sugar for his taste, but that's Alex for you.

"Here." He holds them out to her, expecting a thank you. Instead she looks at the food like a snake preparing to strike. Rolling his eyes, he shakes the Danish at her. "Take it before it ends up on your head."

She grimaces, but takes it. "Thanks I guess."

Well…its something.

He sits beside her and takes a bite of his breakfast burrito. Justin hadn't realized until he got to the counter of the juice bar just how hungry he actually was and he feels a little more like himself with some sustenance.

The idea of him and Alex like _that_….craziness.

Insanity.

And the implausibility is why he can't really seem to stop looking at her while. Totally.

His mind wanders, just for the tiniest of nanoseconds and no more, only to be pulled back when she snaps her fingers in front of his face. He jolts and drops what's left of his food onto the sand between them. "What?"

She looks down at the food and back up at him with a look that wouldn't be amiss at being aimed at some hapless idiot who just put their shoes on their hands. "What's with the spacieness?"

"Uh, nothing." He says it too quickly and her eyes narrow, catching on. "Just thinking."

She leans closer and, God help him that he can't tear his eyes away from the remnants of icing and sugar at the corners of her lips, pulls his face forward by placing her fingers on either side of his chin, tugging hard.

"Ow," he protests.

Alex searches his face. It surprises him. Usually he's pretty much an open book-or so she often tells him.

Justin tries, and fails, to ignore that little voice that lives in the back of his head that says she's looking for something specific. Something she shouldn't be. Something he shouldn't even be thinking of.

The entire bottom half of his face overcome with heat, growing heat, he jerks his head free of her hold and scrambles to his feet.

He wobbles, but doesn't fall down. He can be mildly proud of that, right?

Alex stands in front of him. She looks all defiant and angry and this never ends well. "What do you know?"

Huh?

"I don't know anything!" He pauses, thinks about that. "I mean I do. I actually know quite a lot-"

"Justin!"

"I don't know anything about this." Waving at her, some odd pantomime of greeting almost, he tries to make his point and back away at the same time. She follows him. "Just what we've learned-together."

Arms crossed and eyes barely more than slits, she stares him down, confident he'll crack.

He always does.

Alex deflates. Yes, he's glad. His sister and her twisted mind scare him a little.

(His thoughts were not that twisted. It was just low blood sugar. Not like he meant them.)

Sinking down onto the sand, Alex falls back and stares up at the sky. "I think this thing is making me paranoid."

Cautiously, because he does still have a sense of self preservation and all, he sits down beside her and pats her knee.

They sit in silence for a while, each trying to process what's gone on the past few days. Justin thinks that he's let all this voodoo stuff get to him. Like a bad ghost story that gets inside your head and makes you see boogeymen on every street corner.

That's it. Has to be.

He's so lost in his thoughts, his justifications, that when the sound Alex's voice makes itself known, he doesn't hear her for several seconds. "What?"

She sighs. "You know, don't you?" And she looks at him with so much sadness he expects it to burn a hole right through him.

Unable to lie to her (common affliction) when she looks at him like that, Justin desperately pushes against the sudden urge to tuck tail and run before this all gets out of hand, he decides to just lay it all out.

What he likes to call The Band-Aid Method.

"So I was right."

Alex looks at him, all wary, like she always looks at him (until she wants something), and gives him that silent plea to go on.

"All this," he waves his hand in a circular motion in the air above where Ezrulie's charm still lays against her skin, "its me. Isn't it?"

She gives him a dirty look somewhere between 'I could kill you right here' and 'this is too embarrassing for words' and drops her head into her hands. "Ugh. You'd think you would get tired of always being right."

Insult? Compliment? Doesn't matter. He was right.

And he's not as disturbed by it all as he should be.

It's an odd place, this scenic paradise, to be talking about a thing like this. So taboo, such stigma, a horrible, ugly word.

He has this friend in Alien Language League, Derek, who came out last May and he remembers the day his locker got trashed and he looked at Justin and wondered 'how can love be wrong, or ugly, how is that fair?'

Maybe…he had a point all along.

Justin had no answer then, but then is over and this is now and some tiny part of his heart is aching in a good way.

He lays his palm, tentatively, on her shoulder. "Its alright, Alex."

Her head jerks up, fire in her eyes. "No. no, Justin, it is not alright. Its creepy and wrong and gross and just plain weird."

Well…

He thinks about Derek. "Thanks." It comes out drier, more sarcastic than he intended.

Her bright, expressive, angry face dissolved and she looks at him like he's the biggest dolt she's ever come across in her life. "You're my brother."

She says 'brother' like it's something filthy. He flinches, taking in a harsh breath, the air between them becoming charged with tension. Exactly what kind of tension though, well, that he'd rather not think about.

"I still love you," Justin says simply.

With watery eyes, she looks at him. His heart comes near to breaking with the hope he sees reflected back at him. Justin wondered if he had been right, but it he never thought about whether or not what this was doing to her.

Frankly, its not really like him. He's half tempted to glare at that cursed necklace, but what good would that do? If this was already here between them it would have come out sooner or later, charm or no charm.

Justin rubs a hand through his hair, grips at it a bit, biting back the tears and the nausea rising up in his stomach.

Blinking back tears, Alex takes in a shaky breath. "You do?"

He can't help it; he pulls her against him, tucking her head underneath his chin where she finally lets the tears come. Justin squeezes her shoulder and rubs her back and says every so called comforting platitude he can think of until and just tries to let her know that he's _here_, here for her, and always will be, whenever she needs him.

When she finally pulls away and raises her head up, her cheeks are still wet. He wipes the tear tracks away. Habit, even if it has been years since she let him do this, since she used to scrape her knee and declare that her legs hurt to much to walk so he'd give her a piggyback ride home.

"Of course I do." There's a shift in her eyes and he wonders if it would be better to ignore it. "Family hate aside, I always will."

Rolling her eyes, Alex knocks against him. She grins, every inch his sister again. "I hate you," she says, with all the tenderness of a love poem read aloud.

Alex's hand goes to her neck and they look down at the same time to see that her necklace has fallen off, landing in her lap. With a laugh of relief, she stuffs it in the pocket of her jeans.

Its been dealt with.

Justin stands up and holds a hand down to her. "Ready to go home?"

Taking and expelling a deep breath, she twines her hand around his and lets him pull her to her feet. "I guess. We're gonna have to get busted sooner or later, right?"

"Right."

He tells her he'll give her back her wand once their home when he leads her over behind a particularly big palm tree and takes his own out to send them back to New York. She puts a hand on his arm, halting him. "You know, I hear beach bum is a pretty good living."

Chuckling, Justin takes her hand again. "Puka shells aren't really a good look for me."

"No surprise there." She grins at him, tongue poking through her teeth.

With a roll of his eyes, Justin waves his wand and like that, they're home.

……

_fin._

_**Yeah, it probably didn't help that I watched the playground fight scene in To Kill A Mockingbird when I wrote this.**_


End file.
